State Rep. Ken Summers holds his new granddaughter, 3-week-old, Eliana Summers, on the floor of the session in 2011.

Democratic Speaker Mark Ferrandino and his predecessor, Republican Frank McNulty, are teaming up to host a fundraiser next week for former Rep. Ken Summers, who is in critical condition with West Nile caused encephalitis.

“Do you know anyone nicer than Ken Summers?” McNulty asked.

Summers, a Lakewood Republican, ran for the state Senate in 2012 but lost to Democrat Andy Kerr, who was one of the first to comment on Summers’ condition when it was announced last week:

Thoughts & prayers for my friend Ken Summers & his family as he battles for his health. He is a fighter!

Former Rep. Sara Gagliardi, an Arvada Democrat who lost her re-election bid in 2010, greets Democratic colleagues Beth McCann of Denver and Dianne Primavera of Broomfield on the House floor last week. Primavera also lost in 2010, but ran again in 2012 and won.

It’s been like old home week at the Capitol in recent days with the return of former Colorado lawmakers, who either lost their re-election bids, opted not to run again or were turned out by term limits.

Former Rep. Ken Summers, R-Lakewood, who lost his Senate bid in November, has been back under the Gold Dome several times, including leading the House in prayer on Monday.

Among the speakers at the event will be Gov. John Hickenlooper, Secretary of State Scott Gessler and state Treasurer Walker Stapleton.

The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. and will be held at the Denver Marriott City Center at 1701 California St.

Aguilar is a Denver Democrat, Fields is an Aurora Democrat. Previous recipients of the award include former Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, and former state Rep. Ken Summers, R-Lakewood.

The Colorado Nonprofit Association serves as the voice of the nonprofit sector. There are more than 19,000 charitable nonprofit organizations Colorado, and they 6 percent of the state’s economy. The organization is currently examining how sequestration affects area nonprofits.

[media-credit name=”Lynn Bartels/The Denver Post” align=”alignright” width=”270″][/media-credit] Former Rep. Ken Summers and Sen. Andy Kerr, who ran against each other last year.

On the campaign trail last year, the Lakewood residents were bitter rivals, but in a Capitol committee room today they were friends of education.

Reps. Andy Kerr, a Democrat, and Ken Summers, a Republican, ran for newly drawn state Senate District 22, which Kerr won 53 percent to 47 percent. The outcome was a bit of a shock: The winner was expected to declare victory by the slimmest of margins.

After the education meeting, plenty of lawmakers in both parties heaped attention on Summers, who joked, “I have no power no whatsoever.”

Kerr said that if the tables were turned, he’s pretty sure he’d get all that attention too, adding with a smile, “Wink, wink.”

Republican state Senate candidate Ken Summers of Lakewood and his family sign waving the day before the election. Participants included his 87-year-old mother, his kids, their spouses and such. (Provided by Summers)

It wasn’t just losing an election that was a heartbreaker for Republican Senate candidate Ken Summers, it was the brutal attacks from the left, primarily through campaign mailers.

Summers said some campaign mailers left the impression that he favored women “being raped and abused.” After the mailers hit, one Republican confided he regretted ever talking Summers into running.

Summers lost to Democrat Andy Kerr of Lakewood, 48 percent to 52 percent, in Senate District 22. Both currently serve together in the House.

Asked about the election, Summers said the Democratic tidal wave didn’t help, but he was critical of the attacks against him. From his e-mail:

The education reform group endorsed both Republican and Democrat candidates.

Most endorsements offer few surprises, which is why I did a double take when I read Stand For Children’s endorsements. The education reform group backed a mixture of Republican and Democrat candidates, mostly to the state House and Senate.

Most organizations back candidates from one party or another or mostly from one party or the other, but not in this case.

Sonja Semion of Stand For Children said the candidates were interviewed by a panel of parents and educators.

“The endorsed candidates demonstrated their commitment to supporting quality teaching and school leadership, increasing access to excellent public schools across the state, and investing more in what works in public education,” she said.

Republicans Joe Coors, who is running for Congress, and Ken Summers, who is running for the state Senate, were among those who attended the grand opening Saturday of Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters.

Tom Tancredo used to include the family recipe for spaghetti sauce in his congressional campaign literature, a trick that Ken Summers has picked up for his legislative races.

Summers, who currently serves in the state House and is running for the state Senate, is passing out literature that says “Ken Summers, working for a better Colorado,” on one side. The other side is a recipe for white chicken chili, a family favorite.

Summers, a Lakewood Republican, joked that if someone is able to come up with all the recipes he has handed out since first running for office in 2006, he might have to come up with a prize.

I still have Tancredo’s recipe somewhere, buried with all the other recipes I save but don’t get around to cooking. I found it on his congressional campaign table at a 2002 debate. I asked Tancredo that night
whether it made a difference if the tomatoes were picked by illegal immigrants. I can still remember his laugh.

George and Diane Hefner of Douglas County sign up to volunteer at the grand opening today of Mitt Romney's Colorado headquarters in Lakewood.

Mitt Romney supporters flocked to Lakewood today to celebrate the grand opening of his campaign and victory headquarters.

“We need all of you to sacrifice a little bit of your time and energy,” Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said at the event as he showed off the bank of phones where volunteers will be making their calls.

George and Diane Hefner of Douglas County are ready. When they signed up to volunteer, they asked if there was going to be a Romney office closer to their Roxborough Park home. But if not, no problem, Diane Hefner said. The couple is so determined to unseat President Obama that “we’ll go anywhere we need to go,” she said.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.